Chapter 231: The Oriole Appears!
Nihility Devouring Flame remained silent. Sensing the greed and craving in the other's eyes, he ultimately suppressed the impulse to strike.
At this moment, Hun Tiandi was far too dangerous. He was no match for him. Moreover, if Hun Tiandi fell, given the current situation, his own fate would certainly be no better.
If Hun Tiandi won, he might still have a sliver of hope for survival!
Seeing this, Hun Tiandi revealed a smile. Then, controlling the grand array, he rapidly devoured the blood and qi of the Central Plains, the Hun Clan experts, and even the energy of the Fire Evil Clan experts who had fallen on the Dou Qi Continent.
Within the vast sea of blood, endless energy surged towards Hun Tiandi. As the sea of blood churned, a whirlpool emerged from it. Then, an enormous blood-red lotus slowly rose up from within the sea of blood.
Atop the blood lotus, Hun Tiandi sat cross-legged. His blood-red hair cascaded down like a waterfall, some strands even falling into the sea of blood, floating on its surface like the outstretched wings of a demon.
His power swelled and expanded rapidly in a short period. At a certain moment, a divine light flashed through his eyes, causing even this sea of blood to surge with towering waves.
"Such intoxicating power..."
A faint, soft murmur came from his mouth. In the next instant, an aura as if transcending and reigning above heaven and earth abruptly surged forth violently from within his body. Instantly, this boundless, endless sea of blood erupted with towering, shocking waves.
"Hun Tiandi... has already succeeded!"
Sensing that vast, mighty aura, as if reigning above heaven and earth, Gu Yuan and the others finally turned pale with shock and horror. For the first time, he felt an aura that made even his soul tremble.
That kind of aura was something only a Dou Di expert could possess!
Nihility Devouring Flame's gaze flickered. He completely suppressed the thoughts in his heart.
Simultaneously, a voice, saturated with the endless scent of blood, rang out mightily and resonantly across the Central Plains.
"Today... is the day I, Hun Tiandi, am crowned Emperor!"
"Hahaha! Your greatest mistake was sitting back and watching me become a Dou Di! The Dou Qi Continent is my domain! I will not permit you alien races to invade and seize it!"
Hun Tiandi's gaze swept over Gu Yuan and the others, finally settling on the Fire Evil Demon Emperor. A demonically alluring, strange smile surfaced on his face.
"Heh heh, I waited for you for quite some time. In the end, you only broke through to the realm of a quasi-Heavenly Sovereign. Truly, it is somewhat disappointing!" The Fire Evil Demon Emperor, sensing Hun Tiandi's gaze, shook his head with some disappointment.
"What do you mean? Heavenly Sovereign? Quasi-Heavenly Sovereign?" The Fire Evil Demon Emperor's words made Hun Tiandi's heart sink. A faint unease stirred within him. He stared at the other and spoke in a deep voice.
"It seems you don't know!" The Fire Evil Demon Emperor laughed with an ambiguous, unreadable expression. Then, just as Hun Tiandi was growing agitated, he explained, "The Heavenly Sovereign of the Great Thousand World is equivalent to my clan's Demon Emperor realm. As for what you call a Dou Di, I originally thought it was equivalent to a Heavenly Sovereign. Who could have imagined it was merely a quasi-Heavenly Sovereign, possessing a mere trace of a Heavenly Sovereign's might? The difference from a true Heavenly Sovereign is vast!"
"So that's how it is... But isn't this even better for you?"
The crowd pricked up their ears, listening to this information from the higher realm. Hun Tiandi, however, looked at the Fire Evil Demon Emperor with some bewilderment.
"Still don't understand?" Hearing this, the Fire Evil Demon Emperor shook his head. "I've been stuck at the Nether Demon Emperor level for many years. If I had the blood of a Heavenly Sovereign as nourishment, I could break through to the Profound Demon Emperor level. Heavenly Sovereigns of the ordinary Great Thousand World are hard to find. I never expected to encounter one in a Lower Plane. What a pity... ultimately, you still fell just short..."
Hearing the Fire Evil Demon Emperor speak of him as if he were mere blood and flesh nourishment, the fury in Hun Tiandi's heart was thoroughly ignited.
"You're courting death—"
"Blood Emperor Body—"
Accompanied by a long, resonant cry from Hun Tiandi, the sky-covering blood-red thunderbolts all weakened at this moment. Under those gazes filled with terror, Hun Tiandi suddenly opened his mouth wide. A surge of suction force erupted forth violently. The blood clouds shrouding the sky of the Central Plains were, at this very moment, entirely transformed into blood light, surging overwhelmingly into his mouth.
Those thick, dense blood clouds—who knew how much blood essence of countless people they had condensed? Yet now, they were devoured in a single gulp by Hun Tiandi!
The sky-covering, sun-blotting blood clouds were devoured. Warm sunlight spilled down. Quite a few people were somewhat stirred. Only when they had felt that atmosphere of impending apocalypse could they truly understand how precious those ordinary, mundane things of the past were.
Of course, there was no time for excitement. The battle in the sky was what would decide the fate of the Dou Qi Continent.
Crack! Crack!
As the sky-high blood clouds were devoured in a single gulp by Hun Tiandi, his body abruptly swelled and expanded. In a mere instant, it transformed into a blood-red giant, tens of thousands of zhang tall. Blood light swiftly coalesced on his body, finally transforming into a layer of blood-red armor that completely enveloped that ten-thousand-zhang physique.
The blood-red giant stood between heaven and earth, blotting out the entire sky. Under such a terrifying visual impact, absolutely no one doubted that a single punch from Hun Tiandi at this moment could blast a radius of tens of thousands of li into an abyss!
"Today, let you taste the might of my Blood Emperor Body!"
Hun Tiandi's enormous blood-red pupils stared at the Fire Evil Demon Emperor. With every breath he took now, wind and thunder surged. With a single exhalation, the heaven-and-earth energy of the entire Central Plains was subjected to enormous fluctuations.
"So this is the legendary Dou Di Body?"
The experts of the Dou Qi Continent gazed at the ten-thousand-zhang-tall Hun Tiandi, their expressions all changing drastically.
Naturally, the ancient races had records concerning Dou Di. Dou Di experts could absorb heaven and earth into their bodies. At that point, they were heaven and earth itself. With every gesture, they could shatter the firmament. Their might was terrifyingly powerful!
And this kind of colossal physique was not merely formed from energy but was a genuine, solid physical body. Just imagine—a physical body tens of thousands of zhang in size. How terrifying would such grandeur and momentum be?!
This ability was called the Dou Di Body by people, because only upon reaching the Dou Di level could one execute it.
"A Supreme Dharma Body?"
In contrast, the Fire Evil Demon Emperor, upon seeing Hun Tiandi execute the Blood Emperor Body, had a calm expression. Within his eyes was even thick, dense mockery and scorn.
"A mere prototype of a Supreme Dharma Body, and you think it can block me?"
The Fire Evil Demon Emperor gazed at Hun Tiandi. A ray of blood light shot out from his fingertip. It swelled with the wind, actually transforming into a blood-red giant python. The giant python was ferocious, malevolent, and fiercely brutal. With every breath, it even devoured fragments of space itself, swooping down towards Hun Tiandi.
Watching the incoming blood-red giant python, Hun Tiandi extended his palm. Blood light coalesced. His already enormous palm directly expanded to a size of ten thousand zhang. He flipped his hand and slapped, clashing head-on with the blood python.
Boom!
A berserk storm raged across the sky, like a wind of destruction. Wherever it passed, the sky turned dark.
Roar!
The storm raged. The blood-red giant python let out a furious, enraged hiss. Its enormous body was blasted flying away. Yet, at the same time, Hun Tiandi's body also jolted. A bloody gash directly pierced through his entire arm.
He staggered, stumbling backwards. Finally, he crashed heavily onto the ground, completely crushing the distant mountain ranges into an abyss.
"Even a Dou Di is no match for that Demon Emperor?!"
Watching Hun Tiandi fall into a disadvantage, the people of the Dou Qi Continent turned miserably pale. No matter their personal thoughts, they could not deny the fact that Hun Tiandi was already the Dou Qi Continent's sole lifeline, their only straw to clutch at.
They dared not imagine what their fate would be if the Fire Evil Demon Emperor emerged victorious.
"Boom!"
"How is this possible?! I've already become a Dou Di! I should be invincible under heaven! How can I not be a match for a mere illusory shadow of you?!"
Amidst the panic and turmoil in their hearts, from within that abyss, the colossal figure shot into the sky once more. Somewhat disheveled, he looked at the Fire Evil Demon Emperor.
"Still don't understand?" The Fire Evil Demon Emperor's blood-red pupils stared at Hun Tiandi. "The gap between us... is not something your methods can bridge."
As his voice fell, he abruptly opened his mouth wide and inhaled. Instantly, a terrifying suction force erupted. That open mouth seemed to transform into a black hole, sucking and pulling at heaven and earth.
And the bulk of that suction force was exerted on Hun Tiandi's Dou Di Body. Then Hun Tiandi watched in horror as the vast energy within his Dou Di Body, no matter how he resisted, was ultimately, bit by bit, slowly devoured by the Fire Evil Demon Emperor, following that suction force.
As his energy was replenished, the Fire Evil Demon Emperor's figure actually gradually began to solidify and become more distinct. The aura of might emanating from him grew increasingly terrifying.
"Bastard—"
Seeing this, Hun Tiandi roared furiously. The Sever Emperor Blade in his hand abruptly slashed towards the earth of the Central Plains.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Endless streams of blood instantly splattered across the heavens, all greedily devoured by the blood blade's illusory shadow. Who knew how many innocent lives returned to eternal stillness and silence under this single slash?
"Hun Tiandi!!!" Blood-curdling, furious roars rang out in unison.
Yet Hun Tiandi's expression remained icy cold, his face showing not the slightest change. Even though Zi Yan and the others felt some unbearable pity in their hearts, they still watched all this with cold detachment from the sidelines. They were not naive, innocent white lotuses who had just entered the cultivation world. A saintly, merciful heart had no place in the world of cultivation.
Bang!
The furious roars of the weak did not make Hun Tiandi halt the movements of his hand. As the illusory shadow of the blood blade returned to its main body, that ten-thousand-zhang blood blade also abruptly erupted with a blindingly dazzling, brilliant blood-red radiance.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
With the infusion of so much fresh blood, the blade of the Sever Emperor Demon Blood Blade began to tremble uncontrollably, as if at any moment it might struggle free of its restraints and fly away.
High in the sky, the Fire Evil Demon Emperor watched Hun Tiandi, who was undergoing such a transformation. Within his blood-red pupils, a flicker of surprise finally flashed past. Then he smiled indifferently and said slowly, "Now this... is finally getting somewhat interesting..."
"Hahaha! Today is the day this Emperor is crowned Emperor! How could I possibly lose?! I will make the name of my Hun Clan renowned even in the higher realm! How could I be stopped by you?!" His blood-red robes fluttering and rustling, Hun Tiandi laughed wildly and insanely.
"Kill—"
Accompanied by a furious roar from Hun Tiandi, he raised the Sever Emperor Demon Blood Blade and abruptly slashed towards the Fire Evil Demon Emperor.
The Fire Evil Demon Emperor watched Hun Tiandi charging at him once more to attack. He drew a deep breath. His hands slowly pressed together. That indifferent, cold and detached voice, like that of a god of destruction, then resounded thunderously between heaven and earth.
"Blood Fiend Fire Demon Thunder!"
Rumble!
In the void, the roar of thunder suddenly boomed. In the next instant, countless bolts of thunder and fire descended from the heavens with a thunderous crash, overwhelmingly blasting towards the direction where Hun Tiandi was.
Each and every one of those blood-red thunderbolts seemed to possess annihilating, destructive power. As they descended, heaven and earth both trembled.
Seeing this, Hun Tiandi also dared not be negligent. With a furious roar, he raised the Sever Emperor Blade and slashed and hacked at those blood-red fiery thunderbolts, one blade after another.
"Rumble—"
Terrifying, incomparably horrifying energy fluctuations transmitted from high in the sky. Sensing those energy fluctuations, Zhu Kun, Gu Yuan, Lei Ying, and the others retreated again and again, gradually moving far away from the territory of the Central Plains.
Yet, their exposed skin still felt a faint, searing, scorching heat.
The crowd watched the great battle in the sky with shock and awe. No one noticed that at this moment, Xiao Yan was quietly sitting cross-legged atop a certain mountain cliff. Between heaven and earth, countless specks of light emerged from the void, enveloping his body.
His consciousness was shrouded and covered by those specks of light. Under the protection of the Primal Chaos Light, it surged into the endless void...
At this moment, Primal Chaos Light continuously poured into his body. The aura within him surged upwards madly at an astonishing speed. The pace was even more exaggerated than Hun Tiandi's.
"Boom!"
In the sky, two blood-red rays of light collided together madly. A blazing sun seemed to appear in the sky, creating the peculiar spectacle of two suns appearing simultaneously!
The sky-covering blood-red light finally slowly dispersed. The center of the battle once again appeared within everyone's field of vision.
Hun Tiandi stood quietly between heaven and earth, holding the Sever Emperor Blade. Across his chest stretched a long, bloody scar. It seemed that if it had been even a fraction deeper, this figure would have been completely torn apart.
"How... how can this be..."
A feeling of weakness transmitted from within his body. Hun Tiandi, now completely devoid of any further fighting strength, murmured in a lost, bewildered, and utterly despondent tone, as if his soul had left him.
"Pathetic, weak creature. You are the weakest quasi-Heavenly Sovereign I have ever seen. Well, I've had enough fun playing around. It's time to send you to your death!"
The Fire Evil Demon Emperor's figure, compared to earlier, was only slightly dimmer. He looked at Hun Tiandi, shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment.
But very quickly, the disappointed tone retracted. Bone-chilling, ice-cold killing intent erupted from within his body.
"You want to kill me?! I won't just sit and wait for death!"
The Fire Evil Demon Emperor's killing intent made Hun Tiandi pull back his senses. He cast a deep, profound glance at the Fire Evil Demon Emperor, then transformed into a ray of blood light and fled towards the distant horizon at high speed.
"Heh heh, such a rare harvest... how could I possibly let you leave..." The Fire Evil Demon Emperor watched Hun Tiandi's swiftly retreating figure. A strange, eerie smile, however, surfaced on his face.
"Boom—"
Yet, before he could even make a move, the surrounding power of heaven and earth began to tremble. Overwhelming, sky-covering black beams of light swept forth once more. These beams of light were like a spider's web, forming an extremely colossal grand array in the sky.
This familiar scene made the surviving people reveal expressions of unease and terror one after another.
Just moments ago, it was precisely through such a method that Hun Tiandi had blood-sacrificed countless living beings and ascended to become a Dou Di in a single bound! Was such a tragic, miserable scene about to be repeated once more?!
"Who is it?!"
The surviving experts all began searching everywhere for a suspicious figure. Even Hun Tiandi halted his fleeing steps. It wasn't that he didn't want to run, but that the scale of this grand array was so vast that it actually encompassed everyone within it. What's more, it even included the entire Eastern Region and Northern Region, almost seizing the greater part of the Dou Qi Continent's territory.
"Interesting... interesting..."